It is Wednesday morning, November 9, 2016. It is the day after the election, and there is a silence laying heavy across campus. As I walk to class, I see people with scared, angry, tired faces. I can see, written in the lines of their eyes, that they did not sleep last night, and if they did, it was not restful.

I want to say that I feel hopeful for our future, but I do not. I do not know what is going to happen in the coming months, and I do not know how we are going to get through this. I do know, however, that we will. We will get through this, because we always have. The ‘this’ that I am talking about is, of course, the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. Sure, maybe I’m being a little dramatic--but the situation calls for it.

This was not just an election. This was a choice for the future--a choice for people of color, for LGBTQ+ folks, for Muslims, for immigrants, for the people of the United States--this was a choice to continue to honor the American dream of inclusion of all people, regardless of who they are. On Tuesday, November 8th, this choice was not made. Rather, the choice was made to elect a man whose bigotry and hatred is known across the globe. This is a man who has called Mexicans racists, who has judged women solely off of their bodies, who has mocked the disabled, and who has constantly dismissed every person around him who is not a straight, cisgender, able-bodied, rich, white man.

The future has always been a scary place, but it has always been feared out of uncertainty as to what is ahead. Now, it is a feared because the small progress we have made over the past decade could be wiped away by the hand of one man. This is not disappointment over a particular candidate winning or losing--this is legitimate, valid fear expressed by minority groups. This is not consoling a friend because they don’t agree with certain beliefs expressed by a politician. This is, unfortunately, holding a friend as they cry because they are afraid of losing their right to marry, or losing their friends or family to deportation, or of facing violence themselves.

There is still another option. The electoral college does not cast their votes for a candidate officially until December 19th--the results we all saw on Tuesday night were merely projected results if all of the electors vote with the popular vote in their state. However, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote overall. We can urge electors to be ‘faithless’--to go against the popular vote of their state and vote for Hillary afterall. It is a slim chance, but it is one that exists. From someone who is queer, trans, and non-male, I am begging you to please write/call your electors and ask them to vote for Hillary in December.

Perhaps, though, I am painting an overly grim picture here. So here are a few positives:

• The first Somali-American legislator was elected in Minnesota
• The first openly LGBTQ governor was elected in Oregon
• The first Latina senator was elected in Nevada
• And of course, the overwhelming amount of kindness and compassion that I have seen over the past few days.

This fight is not over. I swear to my POC friends, my Muslim friends, my Jewish friends, any of my friends that have been negatively affected by this election result, that I will stand with you in the coming months and years, as I hope that you will stand with me.